Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

The member for Lyne, who presented this private member's bill, the National Electricity Bill 2012, just asked me, as we were sitting here, how long it would take me to get to the real crux of this. I said that I have it in my introductory paragraph. Make no mistake: the carbon tax is the biggest driver of electricity prices. The member of Lyne knows it, the member opposite knows it, as does everyone else in this chamber. There can be no doubt that the reason electricity prices have started to climb so dramatically is the carbon pricing mechanism.

Honourable member interjecting—

I said 'carbon pricing'. The member opposite knows that it is a tax. The member for Lyne, who is sitting beside me, knows that it is a tax and certainly the public know it is a tax. The coalition signalled this before the carbon tax was implemented by the Labor government and since it came into effect on 1 July 2012 we have seen the impact it has had on power pricing.

Honourable member interjecting—

There are certainly price rises in your electorate and Labor members who are honest with their constituents—and I am sure they are all honest—if they are absolutely upfront and frank with their constituents, would be telling them that the reason their electricity prices are rising is the carbon tax. The consumer price index figures for the first quarter in which the carbon tax was applied confirmed the impact it had on the cost of electricity and on the cost of day-to-day living. Electricity prices had a 15.3 per cent rise and household gas and miscellaneous fuels had a 14.2 per cent rise. These were the largest quarterly increases on record. How the government can consider such a rise a modest increase is, quite frankly, unbelievable. How rose tinted are the glasses they are wearing?

However, this bill, which seeks to make the national electricity law an act of parliament, has so far received no support from either side of the parliament. The Minister for Energy and Resources at the time this bill was introduced, the Hon. Martin Ferguson, stated:

The states do not control the regulatory authorities that set prices and any suggestion that they do has no basis in fact and is a cheap shot … it is a complex reform that won't be solved by cheap front page headlines.

Mr Ferguson is not the minister anymore—because the Prime Minister is running out of loyal lieutenants, quite frankly, and all the ministers are getting lumped with portfolio after portfolio. There is another one sitting opposite.

The shadow minister for energy and resources, the Hon. Ian Macfarlane, has said that the coalition understands energy market reform is a long-term process and 'fragmented or political attempts to address the issue of rising power prices will have no meaningful impact on the energy sector.'

In my electorate of Riverina, I have been contacted by a number of constituents, on a daily basis, about their ever-increasing power bills and especially the note printed on these power bills stating:

NSW Govt estimates that the Federal carbon tax and green energy schemes add about $316 a year to a typical 7MWh household bill …

Just consider that: households who are already overburdened by rising grocery and fuel costs now are copping $316 in additional costs due to the carbon tax.

In December last year the Prime Minister promised to reduce power bills by $250 a year, and yet, as the member for Kooyong knows, nothing has happened. There was certainly nothing in the budget recently which would assist in bringing power bills down. Indeed, in the budget we see even further costs imposed upon families who are already struggling with household costs. A simple way to reduce power bills to some extent would be to scrap the carbon tax. It is going to be the first order, the first bill, the first priority, of, hopefully, an incoming coalition government to do just that. The coalition has promised that, should we have the good fortune to be given the faith of the Australian people to form government after 14 September.

Mr Oakeshott interjecting—

I hear the member for Lyne calling out, and I know he is worried that Dr David Gillespie is breathing down his neck. I know he is worried about the fact that the Nationals are going to take the seat of Lyne, which they will after 14 September. I know how keen David Gillespie is to deal with the carbon tax, the tax that we were promised would never come in but which did, thanks to the government that the member for Lyne keeps maintaining a protection racket for, thanks to the cobbled-together government that he gave power to. That carbon tax will go, thanks to David Gillespie, who will be the next member for Lyne, and thanks to the Tony Abbott-Warren Truss government which will form after the next election.

Debate adjourned.

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